I inherited a disassembled 57 Tbird when my father inlaw passed away 18 months ago. I have slowly been putting it back together. Of course, no parts were labled, and the history of the car and parts were known only to him.
As I am getting close to the finish line, I am looking to sell some of the parts that I KNOW are duplicates. With that, I have 4 of these wire hubcaps. I do not know if they are originals or repos. I assume they are to a 57, as that is his car. Can somebody help identify and suggest a price? All 4 are in the same condition as the one below.
Rogue --- Welcome to the VTCI forum! LOTS of knowledge and help here and sometimes a bit of friendly jabbing too.
I checked Ray Miller's book "Thunderbird", and there are no pictures of wheel covers in his book for years 55 - 73 that are an exact match of yours. 57 Birds had 14" wheels (no wire covers although 55 & 56 had them optional on 15" wheels) and if these are for 14" you can either use them or sell online. A popular way to get good looking wire covers back in the day was to use Corvair wire covers. Perhaps that is what these are with the centers changed?? You may have to do a bit of surfing to check that out.
PLEASE invest a few bucks and buy all the shop manuals for your car. Definitely will save you much time and be an education.
55-57 VTCI Forum Moderator
57 Inca Gold-Colonial White
63SR Silver Mink
No wire wheel covers were offered for '57, although there was a wire cover with a '57 T-bird part number that was shown in an accessory catalog. The cover you have pictured is from a mid-'60s Ford (Mustang, Fairlane), based on the 3-bar spinners and mid-'60s Ford crest in the emblem. You would have to do some digging to nail down the specific year(s) it was used.
Alan H. Tast, AIA
Technical Director/Past President,
Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"
1963 Hardtop & 1963 Sports Roadster
Thanks guys! I appreciate it. I have been lurking here for the past year or so and I have picked up a tremendous amount of knowledge from the group. I am finally at the point that (mostly) understand the parts and the car.
What should I do with these hubcaps? I am trying to sell parts I do not need to finish the job.
Once again, thank for the welcome.
TheRogue
Edit: Read the replies more carefully. I will measure and see what size they are. Thanks again.
If you can determine what they came from I would list them on E-Bay or take them to a local swap meet. Perhaps you can find a part number someplace that may give a clue to being origial Ford or an aftermarket supplier.
PLEASE invest a few bucks and buy all the shop manuals for your car. Definitely will save you much time and be an education.
55-57 VTCI Forum Moderator
57 Inca Gold-Colonial White
63SR Silver Mink
I'm with Alan, these have a very 60's look to them, even early 70's. Do they by chance have a part number anywhere? My experience (limited) is the Thunderbirds and Mustangs always had the related car emblem in the center of the hub. So, I think if its factory it belongs to one of the big Ford's. I'd check a more general Ford site like Dennis Carpenter or Concours and others, you may find repos of the wheel cover you have.
You could post this as an off topic on the FE engine forum. All those folks should be working with Fords in the era. Maybe one of them will recognize them. http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182.
From the front they look very much like a set of 65-66 Ford Fairlane/Galaxie wire hubcaps. Some early Mustangs had them too although I have never seen the inside covers look like that. I'm tryiing to figure out how they would fit on a standard set of Ford 14 inch rims.
I might be interested in them for my 65 Fairlane if they are up for sale but I don't know if they would fit the stock rims on the car.
Thomas Cofield
1962 Hardtop, 'Thumper' Red/Black
1962 Hardtop, 'The Survivor' White/Red
VTCI-PNW
RSSVTCI
Thanks for all of the replies. The wealth of knowledge here is amazing.
I have looked all over the hubcap for a part number. I could not find anything.
The hubcaps measure 15" across on the front from chrome edge to edge. On the back, the black lip part measures about 14" across at the first lip ridge. Then it tapers down to about 13.25" across at the edge closest to the center.
I will poke around some of the forums suggested and see if anybody else has any ideas.
WKLink (Thomas), I am going to sell them. If you want to dry fit one on your 65 Fairlane, I could send you one hubcap for trial. Send me a PM if interested.
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